Escape Reviewer

Quick Facts:

City/Area: Markham

Escape Length: 60 Minutes

Players: 5-9

Cost: $27 Weekday

         $30 Weekend

Design: ✭✭✭✭✩ 4.0

     Idea: 3.5

     Details: 4.5

     Features: 4.0

Creativity: ✭✭✭✭✩ 4.2

     Novel: 3.5

     Comprehension: 5.0

     Surprises: 4.0

Puzzles: ✭✭✭✭✬ 4.3

     Challenge: 5.0

     Logic: 3.5

     Abstract: 4.5

Omescape continues its streak of excellence with The Penitentiary, taking the prison theme to the next level with their great use of technology and set design that we’ve come to know and love. While this may be Omescape’s smallest room to date, the use of space is really quite nice. At the start of this escape, players are placed in an interesting situation where communication is the key to escaping. While the amount of work that each group of players has to complete is about equal, if completed out of order (which is what we did), this could lead to the faster group completing more of the room while leaving the first group behind. As always at Omescape, the room design and quality of the items in the room are superb. Many of the puzzles in this escape are very unique and enjoyable to solve. Unfortunately, in one puzzle, they have employed a popular logic puzzle game that requires prior knowledge of how to solve it. If you do not know how to solve this puzzle, or are just simply slow at solving, your chances of success will plummet. That puzzle aside, everything else flowed logically, and we didn’t have any issues with the tech inside of the room. As always, we recommend everyone go and play Omescape's rooms!

Reviewed by Evan on August 17, 2015

 

SECOND OPINION

The Penitentiary takes a pretty standard escape room topic (prison escape) and shows how to do it right. The design and props are top-notch - from the very solid ‘iron bar’ feeling cells, to the numerous amount of surprises and cool tech. A moderate sized group is recommended to escape within a decent time, as The Penitentiary starts off in a fun way that would work better with more  players. Cooperation is key to get out.

 

This is a more advanced escape that may stump newcomers to the escape room genre. Some of the puzzles are intricate and may prove challenging. There are no disturbing or ‘adult’ features, however younger children may not be calm in the dark rooms. As an important note, The Penitentiary uses theatre misting, which may affect people with severe respiratory conditions.

 

In summation - The Penitentiary is an excellent immersive experience - a well-done premium room.

Reviewed by Stef on August 17, 2015

Stated Difficulty Level: 4/5

Theme: Prison

Family Friendly? Yes

Company Atmosphere: 4.5/5

Tell us about your experience with The Penitentiary.